Weigh in Wednesday, and another thought.

Weigh in at Nutrition class was last night. I had success....even though I ate horribly last week. Need I remind myself once again of the WHOLE box of Girl Scout cookies I ate? I lost another 1 1/4 lbs. So that is 9 1/4 lbs overall, and I have 14 3/4 pounds until my goal. My class ends on March 24th, but I plan on continuing the class for another 10 week session to make it to my goal.

On a different note, I found this article and found it VERY interesting...It was the top story of the morning on my Yahoo homepage. It is long, so if you care to read, go ahead. If not, don't worry.

Utah, Hawaii, Wyoming top 'happiness' poll
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer Kevin Freking, Associated Press Writer –
WASHINGTON – Looking for happiness — it's family-friendly communities for some, tropical paradise or the rugged West for others. A survey of Americans' well-being, conducted by Gallup in partnership with Healthways and America's Health Insurance Plans, gives high marks to Utah, which boasts lots of outdoor recreation for its youthful population.
Speaking of outdoor recreation, the islands of Hawaii took second place and Wyoming was third in the poll that rated such variables as mental, physical and economic health.
But fun outdoors obviously wasn't the only criteria — "wild, wonderful" West Virginia was ranked last among the states.
And the bluegrass state of Kentucky was 49th, with Mississippi 48th on the list.
In general, highest well-being scores came from states in the West while the lowest were concentrated in the South. The happiest congressional districts were some of the wealthiest, while the lowest scores came in some of the poorest.
Jim Harter, a researcher at Gallup, said he was reluctant to explain regional differences without more study, but he suspected that some of the variations are explained by income. For example, when people were asked to examine their status in life now and five years from now, wealthier people tended to score higher.
The survey attempts to measure people's well-being. It examines their eating and exercise habits, work environment and access to basic necessities, just to name some of the criteria.
"It's not just about physical health," said Eric Nielsen, a spokesman for Gallup. "It's about their ability to contribute at work and be more productive, and it's about feeling engaged in a community and wanting to improve that community."
The massive survey involved more than 350,000 interviews. Examples of the questions include: Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your job or the work you do? Did you eat healthy all day yesterday? Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?
The survey, which takes about 15 minutes, involved 42 core questions. Those taking the survey could get a score of up to 100. The actual difference between states wasn't great: The average score for the highest-ranking state, Utah, was 69.2 points, while the average for the lowest-ranking state, West Virginia, was 61.2 points.
But Harter said that he believed geographic divides could be overstated and even the states with the highest scores had significant work to do to improve certain aspects of their residents' health and happiness.
Researchers hope the findings will help employers better understand what they can do to create more productive workers. Eventually, the data could even be used to compare health and happiness by ZIP code. The survey is going to be generated for 25 years, according to current plans.
To that end, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index also ranked congressional districts. Residents in California Rep. Anna Eshoo's coastal district south of San Francisco generated the top well-being score, followed closely behind by residents of Georgia Rep. Tom Price's district, on the northern edge of Atlanta. Both districts rank in the top 10 in median household income.
On the opposite end, Rep. Harold Rogers' district in eastern Kentucky's coal country and New York Rep. Jose Serrano's district, which includes the distressed neighborhood of the South Bronx, had the lowest well-being scores.

You better believe that the company doing this research had to wonder in the back of their mind if us weirdo Mormons had anything to do with the "happiness" factor of our state. Duh, the answer is yes, but nobody will ever hear THAT part of the story. I do agree with Utah and Hawaii being happy places, but WYOMING.....No way...they must not have visited Rock Springs on their survey!

This is a related story about people being nice and happy here in Utah. On the plane ride home from Disneyland, I sat by the weirdest lady ever. She rambled the whole ride about how she hates Utah because people are so "Nice." She said she has a seizure disorder, and when she flies she has seizures a lot. She said in other states she can just have her seizure and be left alone, but in Utah....people are WAY too nice and want to help her. I wanted to say, "And that is a bad thing why???"

But anyways, just a little bit to think about. I thought it was pretty interesting. Have a great and happy day here in Utah. And if you don't live in Utah....you make it a happy day wherever you are!